Out of the reading for this week, there was something that sparked my interest in Eric Paul Roorda’s introduction. The entire introduction was honestly a lot to take in because of its scientific nature but I especially liked when he wrote, “This awareness in turn contributes to a growing consensus that we need to take concerted action to avoid the devastating consequences of having ignored the Ocean for too long” (Roorda 1).
I thought this was interesting because I feel it’s captures the bigger idea that the Ocean should not be treated as a background but as a living system, something that is entangled without our own human existence. From our talk on Tuesday it this quote got me thinking about how the human relationship with the Ocean isn’t typically something that we are aware of, it just is. It’s become something that we as humans take advantage of without even realizing, because of the fact that it’s always been there. But what if one day it isn’t, what if we have ignored it for son long like Roorda is saying in this introduction. Which makes sense in his use of the word “Terracentrism”.
Roorda’s use of “for too long” highlights the historical guilt that the world may have for abusing its relationship with the Ocean. This one sentence brings both awareness and action into one place, it does the showing and the telling all tied up with a pretty bow. It brings the right amount of devastation to the table, some kind of motivation to open the eyes of his readers. I feel this quote really ties up his entire introduction and what the rest of it entails. The combination of urgency and consciousness for our Ocean and ecosystem that it involves.
Song of the Week: Before the night by Joël Fajerman (I loved the mythical(ness) that this song brings to the ocean front. Also sorry this post isn’t super strong, I’ve been fighting sickness for what feels like weeks now and just and my body finally caved!)
So glad to see you thinking here not only about humans historical relationship to the ocean, but also how that my relationship might change. We have lots of sci-fi movies and stories about that, but will be engaging with some film and literature over the rest of our semester that promote thinking in this vein. Nice post!
I love that you recognize even the smaller phrase of “for too long” represents the stretch of time, much farther than we’d be able to holistically recognize as people of the current era, that this misuse continues to occur. We see it so often as this background you mentioned, something that’s apart of our world rather than one of its own. The side effects, the rising temperatures that come with climate change and the giant patches of trash, is all a byproduct of how little we recognize that we’re doing damage to this mass that’s an environment, a habitat of its own, devoid of our existence and completely entrapped by it at the same time.